Grain-sorting machine



Feb. 27, 1940. F, B, BLQC l 2,191,843

' GRAIN-soR'rINc MACHINE Filed Oct. l5, 1936 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 Feb. 27, 1940. F, B. BLOC GRAIN-SORTING MACHINE Filed-Oct. 13. 1936 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 for:

F. BBLOd Patented Feb.v 27, 1940 UNITED STATES GRAIN-son'rING MACHINE Frdric Bertrand Bloc, Dijon, France, assigner to( Societe de Anciens, Etablissements Lhuillier,

Dijon, France,` a corporation Application october 13, 1936, seriarNo. 105,423 In France October 30, 1935 k1 Claim. (o1. zoe-95').

VApparatus for the sorting of grains is already known, in which the grains to be sorted are supplied to a rotating'cylinder which is horizontal or slightly inclined and whose wall isprovided with recesses of suitable size.

During the operation, a part of the grain will be caught in the recesses near the lower'generatrix of the cylinder, and then, due to the rotation of the cylinder itself, the grains` are carried around in the recesses and will only drop out after having been raised a certain distance.

When the grains are round or short, their position in the recesses is relatively stable, so that d they will only fall after having been raised to a considerable height. A suitably placed trough collects these round grains, which are thus separated from the others.

The' long grains contained in the recesses have a position which is not nearly as well assured,

and they will drop almost at once, and at all events before they reach the level of the trough. vDue to the inclination of the sorting apparatus, or any other arrangement, the grains travel from one end to the other upon the lower part of the lWall of the cylinder, and when they reach the point of discharge, they are considered as having been freed from the round grains.

It is shown by experience that in such known sorting devices, the grains rest upon the lower o generatrix of the cylinder wall and form a sheet ofA greater or less thickness, and during the rotation this sheet will have a higher positionac'- ljcording tothe speed. In this sheet, a certain part of the grains will come several times in contact with the recessed wall, and it may happen that other grains reach the outlet of the cylinder Without ever having been 'in contact with the recessed wall. Thus the sorting is not carried out upon these last-mentioned grains, which are 40' still mixed with the round grains.

This action is the more evident, and hence the sorting is the more incomplete, according vas the sorting apparatus is more heavily loaded with grain. It has been proposed to obviate this serious drawback by means of ldevices adapted to modifyl the form and the arrangement of the sheet of lgrains, but such devices, owing to this severe work, are subject to rapid wear, and after a time 5o they fail to give satisfaction.

The sorting machine in conformity with the invention is a considerable improvement with reference to the known machines. The thick sheet of grains whose inconvenience has been pointed out, is no longer formed, and thus all of the grains, without exception, come in Contact with the recessed wall.

On the other hand, all of thegrainsI will remain in the sorting machine for the same time .60 and will travel over the same path,.so that the operation can be completely performed with the minimum loss of power and hence with the maxi-y mum yield.

In accordance with the invention, each sorting machine, or section of such machine, comprises a recessed cylinder. In the interior of said cylinder, andl upon its whole length, is mounted a distributor for feeding the grains, in such way that the grains will drop into the cylinder simultaneously upon the whole length of this latter.

In addition to the usual trough which serves to collect the round or short grains, the invention employs, at a lower level, a trough which is located in such manner as to receive the long grains.

f Bythis arrangement, the grains, oi whatever kind, can only leave the sorting machine after they have been collected in one or the other of the troughs and thus the sorting machine has the maximum efciency that can bey obtained with the use of recesses.

As this eiiiciency is not absolute, and as the long grains, when dropping into the lower trough, may bring with them a certain number of the round grains, the invention further relates to a 5 sorting machine made in several successive sec-- tions, each of which is arranged as above described, and the long grains which are collected by the trough of the flrst section and are still mixed with round or short grains, are delivered to a fio ring `containing buckets, which-raises them and pours them into the distributor of thel secondv 1 section, and soon, and iinally the long grains issuing from the last section are freed from the round or short grains. l The' invention is shown by Way of example in the accompanying drawings.

Fig.v 1 is a cross-section of one of the sections of a sorting machine according to the invention.

' Fig. 2.is a longitudinal section of the above- 40 mentioned section, ona line passing through thev distributor.'

Fig. 3 is a longitudinal section of one of the sections of the machine, on a line passing through the troughs receiving the long vgrains and the ,g5

round grains.

` Fig. 4 is a vcross-section of a bucket-ring connecting two consecutive sections of the sorting machine.

Figs. 5 and 6 show modied forms of distributors.

Fig. 7 shows a modied form of the bucketring. f f

In the form of construction shown in Figs. i 55 to 4, the sorting machine consists of a certain number of sections, that is, of unit cylinders such as I0', whose internal Wall is provided as usual with recesses H. The said sections are placed end to end, and form a continuous cylinder whose axis is horizontal and which is supported by the frame I2 and rotated by means of rollers I3.

In the interior of the sections and 1at a. relatively high level, is mounted in the known manner a trough I4 adapted to collect the round or short grains falling fromy the recesses. bottom of said trough is located a conveyor I5, for instance of the screw type, which is driven by a pulley I5 and discharges in a continuous manner, to the exterior, the round-grains which are collected.

In vconformity with` the invention, ,eachl section `of the sorting machine contains a feeding distributer comprising a horizontal trough I1 vand a screw conveyor I8 which is rotated by a pulley I9 and distributesthe grain throughout the whole length of the trough.

The bottom of the trough is pierced with holes through which the grains may fall, but below this bottom is located a draw-plate 20, suitably guided, which is also pierced with holes and is operated from the exterior by a handle 2I.

According as the holes in the draw-plate coincide more or less with the holes in the trough Il, the discharge of the grains which are distributed will be greater or less. In yany case,

the grains fall simultaneously throughout the whole length of the section.

In order that the grains shall not be thrown aside when thus meeting the wall, there is mounted upon the whole length of the section a deilector 22 whose lower part 23 has the form of a circular arc and is parallel to the wall I0.

The space between the part 23 and the wall Il) is very small, and corresponds practically to the thickness of a grain, and thus the grains falling from the distributer II--20 are held against the recessed wall in a thin sheet, in which the grains are simply juxtaposed, substantially in a singlel layer. n

At a short distance above the lower generatrix of the cylinder is located a trough 2li containing a screw conveyor 25. At the endvof the section, the said conveyor enters a ring provided with buckets 26, Fig. 4. In this way, thetrough 2li is interrupted at a point adjacent the said ring, but it continues in the following section.

As shown in Fig. 4, adjacent the said ,ringl 26, only the shaft 29 of the screw appears. On the other hand, the trough Iii for the round grains consists of a sleeve 2l entirely surrounding the conveyor I5. As to the distributing trough I'I, one of its wings is suitably extended at 28 so as to collect the grains falling from the b-uckets.

The operation of a sorting machine of this construction is as follows.

The grains which are brought -to the trough I'I of the irst section are distributed bythe con'- veyor i3 over the whole length of this section, and fall in the interior `of the cylinder, passing through those lholes in the trough I'I which are uncovered by the draw-plate 20. v

The grains received by the deflector 22 are placed in a thin sheet upon the recessed surface Iii by the part 23 of this deector. d Y

The grains, which are more or less engaged in the recesses according to their shape and size, are brought along by the rotation of the wall I0, but at the end of a certain movement, the long grains, which have but little stability in the recesses, will drop into the trough 24 and are then taken up by the conveyor 25.

The round or short grains remain in the recesses and will only leave them by the action of At the` gravity, at a much greater height. After having passed above the level of the trough III, these round or short grains are carried bythe conveyor I5 andv are-discharged from the sorting' machine.

Obviously, the level of the trough I4 can be adjusted to a greater or less height when in operation, in order to provide for asorting which is best adapted for the grain to be sorted.

The long grains which may still be mixed with some roundl or short grains, are brought by the conveyor 25 to the end of the section, and from there, they fall into the ring of buckets 26 which collects and raises them and then Vpours them into the distributing trough I'I of the next section.

It will vbe noted in general, that in the sorting machines with recesses, the more the long grains contain round grains, the less the round grains raised by the recesses will contain long.

grains lost in their mass.

In the present case, the rst section of the sorting machine removes the greater part of the round grains from the mixture, and in order to reduce the percentage of long grains thus improperly situated, it is preferable to provide the second section with smaller recesses than those used in the rst section, andso on for the successive sections, and thus the sorting machine will afford a better yield, both qualitative and quantitative, than the known sorting machines.

The invention is not limited yto a particular form of construction of the sorting machine, and this may obviously comprise but a single section, in which case the bucket rings may be eliminated.

The type of feeding distributer can also bev varied Without exceeding the limits of the invention. For instance, instead of adraw-plate Aas shown in Figs. 1 and 2, it may be provided with valves 30 with spring or counterweight, as shown in Fig. 5, or it may be accompanied byI grooved rollers 3I, as shown in Fig. 6.

Any device for discharging the grains in-thin and regular sheets may be adopted.

As concerns the bucket ring, it is also evident that the invention is not limited to the embodilment herein described in which the said ring has the same diameter as the recessed wall. i-

As shown in Fig. 7, it is possible to use a ring such as 32 having a smaller diameter than the wall I0 and rotating on an axis 33 with an independentV movement. 1 y

It is understood that other forms of construction may be adopted for all of the parts comprised in the sorting machine.

A grain sorting machine comprising, in combination, 'a horizontal and continuous rotary cylinder with recesses in its inner Wall, means-for feeding and distributing the grain continuously over the whole length of the cylinder, means located in the upper part of the interior of the cylinder and extending horizontally throughout the length of the cylinder to catch short grains, and ahorizontally extending trough located in the lower part of the interior of the cylinder vand having a horizontal collecting edge spaced from the interior of the cylinder a distance suiiicient to permit the long grains .to be carried above the same and extending slightly above th'e bottom 4generator of the cylinder to catch the long grains which are too large to re-- main in the recesses of 'the cylinder when the same are carried above said trough.

` FREDFQRICl BERTRAND BLOC,... 

